WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Most economists expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to begin shrinking its massive balance sheet in September, a latest survey result showed on Thursday.
About 61 percent of economists predicted the Fed would begin the process of balance sheet normalization in September, while 14.5 percent of economists expected the central bank to start in December, according to a survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal from July 7 to July 11.
The survey also showed that 65 percent of economists expected the Fed to raise interest rates for the third time of the year at its December policy meeting, compared with 33.9 percent of those polled a month ago.
The Fed's balance sheet has ballooned to around 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars following three rounds of quantitative easing programs to withstand the impact of the 2008 global financial crisis.
As the U.S. economy is back on track for steady growth, Fed policymakers are preparing to unwind its crisis-era policies to avoid igniting inflation pressures or pumping up asset bubbles.
The Fed last month raised the benchmark interest rates for the fourth time since December 2015 and unveiled a plan to trim its holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds and other mortgage-backed securities later this year.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen reiterated on Wednesday that the central bank will continue to raise interest rates gradually and start to shrink its balance sheet this year, while monitoring inflation closely.
Inflation in the U.S. has softened in recent months, which triggers discussions about the pace and timing of the future rate hikes among Fed officials.
Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Tuesday that she would want to assess the inflation process closely before making a determination on further interest rate hikes.
Robert Kaplan, president of Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, also said on Thursday that he wanted to see more evidence to confirm that recent weakness of inflation is "indeed transitory".
"With a federal funds rate at a range of 100 to 125 basis points, I would like to see some greater evidence that we are making progress toward meeting our two percent inflation objective in the medium term," he said.
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